The Bowl Whisperer: Urban Meyer Brings a Sterling 7-1 Bowl Record to Miami

One glance at Urban Meyer’s overall coaching record quickly paints the picture of success. He’s won at an 84 percent clip at schools where winning was thought to be impossible and others that view winning as the only thing. But even more impressive is Meyer’s ledger in the almighty must-win bowl games. He owns a 7-1 record and a higher win percentage than regular season games.

Part of the reason stems from Meyer coaching the better team in many of the games. That doesn’t guarantee a victory in December and January, though. In his greatest triumph – a 41-14 win over Ohio State to capture the 2006 national championship – Meyer’s team played an underdog role. The Buckeyes were heavy favorites and Meyer used those slights – real or imagined – and ingrained them into his team’s psyche.

“I’d like to thank all those people. Our pregame speech was easy,” Meyer said after the game.

Said Florida receiver Dallas Baker: “Nobody never gave us a chance at all. We came here with a chip on our shoulder and something to prove. Nobody gave us a chance, but finally we can throw up the No. 1.”

Motivation has long been a masterstroke of Meyer’s. It started at Bowling Green when he convinced a group that was 2-9 the season before his arrival that they were capable of accomplishing much more than that. The Falcons were 17-6 in Meyer’s two seasons as head coach. At Utah, doubters persisted throughout the 2004 season. No way could one of the little guys make its way to the BCS. Utah did. Meyer’s offense would never work in the SEC, they said. It did, and dominated college football in the process.

Meyer is the definition of a big-game coach. He’s 22-3 against rivals, 2-2 in conference title games, 7-1 in bowls and 2-0 in national championship games. The importance of bowl games is very real for Meyer. Wins put an exclamation point on good seasons and act as a springboard for the next year.

“It’s terrible to lose a bowl game,” Meyer said after going out a winner at Florida. He admitted his lone bowl loss to Michigan in the 2008 Capital One Bowl still haunts him.

Whether it’s Southern Miss in the Liberty Bowl, Oklahoma in the national championship game or Iowa in the Outback Bowl, Meyer and his staff take the same steps in preparing teams for the game itself and the mental and physical burdens. The same is seen in rivalry games. They’re treated differently – like bowls – for a reason.

The overwhelming end of season goal is to win, which ensures positive results on the field, in the locker room and on the recruiting trail. Not to mention a happy fan base and administration.

“You definitely don’t want to end the season on a losing note,” former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow said. “It definitely does take a little bit of the positive out of the season.”

To many, bowls might signal a relaxed atmosphere, sunny skies, golf courses and beaches. For coaches, however, it brings forth an entirely different set of conditions – the biggest: pressure.

“Everyone wants to talk about the pressure now like it's some mounting thing,” Northern Illinois head coach Rod Carey said prior to the Huskies’ loss to Bowling Green in the MAC championship game, denying them a second consecutive BCS bid. “Hey, there has been a lot of pressure on us all year because we put it on ourselves. Pressure isn’t a bad thing. It’s a good thing because that’s what gets you to perform.”

A suffocating Falcon defense ultimately doomed Northern Illinois. But it was evident from the game’s outset that the Huskies were wound too tight. And that was in a game just to qualify for a BCS game, not the bowl itself.

Some of the game’s greatest coaches won big during the regular season only to stumble in games carrying more significance. Bo Schembechler was 5-12 in bowl games and just 2-8 in the Rose Bowl; John Cooper’s dismal 3-8 bowl record at Ohio State was a factor in his undoing; and Bob Stoops, dubbed “Big Game Bob” early in his career, fashions a 3-5 record in BCS games, including three defeats with the national title on the line.

At Florida and Ohio State, expectations are as outsized as anywhere in the country. Still, the wins for Meyer pile up like snow in the Alps. In the 2009 national championship game, Meyer’s Gators limited Oklahoma’s record-setting offense to seven points over the first three quarters and 14 for the game. The Sooners totaled 363 yards of offense with only 256 yards passing coming from Sam Bradford. The Heisman-winning quarterback struggled, barely completing 50 percent of his passes and throwing two interceptions.

The bigger the pressure, the bigger the expectations, the likelihood of Meyer succeeding rises. He is, after all, undefeated in BCS bowls. The number could grow come Jan. 3 in the Orange Bowl.

“Momentum is an extremely valuable thing,” Meyer said, “and when you lose a game, it’s difficult.”

Comments

Urban is definitely a very good bowl coach, although I will caveat that by saying that his last Florida team tried everything they could to lose the 2011 Outback Bowl against Penn State.
Penn State tried harder, though, and managed to find a way to lose. If JoePa wouldn't have been so blindly loyal to his QB (McGloin), he would have taken him out before his 5th INT, especially because the last one went 80 yards for a TD to seal the deal with 55 seconds left.
But JoePa kept McGloin in, which allowed Florida to win not lose that day. What an ugly game that was.
Obviously, OSU will be up by 4 TDs in the 4th quarter, so there'll be no repeat of his 2011 UF team's performance.

We are going to be OK with Meyer. Pressure is something that can be difficult to deal with, I'm almost glad we got that first L out of the way. Happy for Dantonio and MSU, still have a chance to be 12-1 with a BCS Bowl. Hell of a season. I think we will get the Crystal Ball soon, and when it is raised, it will be glorious. If we can put together an OL we will be right in the mix next year as well. Go Bucks.

We talkin' bout practice?! Not the game I love...the game I die for. Practice?!

The coaches have a month to prepare for the bowl game. One strength I see in Meyer is that he knows how to use that time well, not just in breaking down schemes but in preparing his teams mentally and physically.

"Bo Schembechler was 5-12 in bowl games and just 2-8 in the Rose Bowl"

Thank you for this piece of history/cannon fodder for my TTUN friends;-)

Some people think we’re the hunted.I don’t feel that way at all.We’re the hunter.Everybody wants an angry football team.Everybody wants a team on edge and a hungry team.If you’re a hunter,that usually equates to being hungry.

De Nada. Si senor on the info;-) It helps to have any info possible with those mofos.

Some people think we’re the hunted.I don’t feel that way at all.We’re the hunter.Everybody wants an angry football team.Everybody wants a team on edge and a hungry team.If you’re a hunter,that usually equates to being hungry.

I remember watching this play and knowing it was PI and it not getting called against that UF team. That OU/UF game was so odd to watch. OU dominated portions of it and had 2 drives end inside the UF 5 going for it on 4th down and not taking points

Big Game Bob...poor Bob draws Bama for their bowl game this year. Something tells me that his bowl losing numbers may go up by one;-)

Some people think we’re the hunted.I don’t feel that way at all.We’re the hunter.Everybody wants an angry football team.Everybody wants a team on edge and a hungry team.If you’re a hunter,that usually equates to being hungry.

The thing that makes me nervous for the bowl is our defense. Meyer's Florida squads had very good defenses. Our current team has just terrible pass defense, forcing the offense to seemingly have to score 40+ per game even against teams who don't have good offenses. I really hope we can get that resolved. Soon. How good would this team be if we had Meyer's previous Florida defensive prowess coupled with the offensive firepower we have already demonstrated?